“Surviving the City” is a finalist in the Pro AM Student category, which recognizes partnerships between students and professional organizations.

The work was a collaboration between students in the International Reporting Program — a six-credit course at the School — and 10 students from three global universities: Nanjing University in China, Indian Institute of Journalism and New Media in India, and Universidad de los Andes in Colombia.

The project was published in conjunction with The Guardian, BBC News and the Toronto Star.

“This idea of students and professional organizations collaborating is gaining traction. The School of Journalism has been a leader in that throughout the journalism community,” said associate professor Peter Klein, who leads the program.

The OJAs are presented by the Online News Association, the world’s largest association of digital journalists. UBC Journalism won the same category in 2016 for the IRP project “Out of the Shadows,” a stark look at how mental health is treated globally.

“Our methodology in IRP is to have a certain faith in the story that students find. And then to trust that when we come back, we’ll have really good reporting that will be able to meet the bar for news organizations.”

Challenging project

One story examined China’s hukou system, which excludes children born of migrant parents from Beijing public schools.

The students overcame logistical hurdles, including time-zone differences, language barriers and limited access to information.